june 4, 2008 - day 140 (weight 190.0 - down 68.5)

No loss, but I only slept 4 hours. I bought a rotisserie chicken from Alberton's grocery store. they sell them in the deli. I will only eat the breast (no skin), and toss the remainder, but it only cost $5.99 and will last 2 or three days in the hotel fridge. I also got tomatoes and oranges. Couldn't find grissini, so I got these mini toasts that looked like similar ingredients to grissini's. I am traveling again and this time it is too long to just skip hCG or bring a couple little vials. I packed my hCG and ice packs in my lunch bag and packed it in my carry on. I also packed my scale in my checked luggage and my food scale in my carry on. After a 20 minute interrogation and bomb squad incident, I have some lesson's learned to share. Evidentally, they could not make out that it was a food scale in the x-ray and it must have looked like a bomb to them. They stopped all action and then backed it out, and then before they touched it, they swabbed it and ran a chemical anylsis on it. That was clear so they had me describe in detail what was in there and what it was for. Then they pulled it and me aside to a special area in the security area, and opened my bag and took swabs and ran analysis and when clear, proceeded to look at the scale. They wanted to know why I needed it and how I used it. Once satisfied, they took my lunch pail and said they were concerned about opening it because of sharp objects. I said "If you mean the syringe, it is a dosing syring and has no needle." They proceeded. They asked about the cooler gel ice packs and why did I have 5 of them. I said for my weight loss medicine that is there in the glass bottle. They said the only way an ice pack is allowed, is if it is for medicine, but my bottle could be anything, because it was unmarked. So they pulled out all the cooler gel packs and said they would need to be discarded. I told them I figured they would treat the unmarked bottle like shampoo and as long as it wasn't more that 3 oz., I figured it would be OK. Then they asked about the formulation and use of the hCG. I explained what it was and what was in it (1/2 sterile water, 1/4 vodka, 1/4 food grade sweet glycerine to make the vodka taste better and the hCG), after abunch of questioning, they then had me open it and then tested it with a different kind of tester. It was clear so he went on. He wanted to know where I worked and what I did for a job. He wanted to know if I worked with Launch Vehicle chemicals and I told him no. Then he proceeded to look very, very carefully though all my work paperwork (hopefully he was a US Person). Finally, they allowed me to go with my hCG and with the 3 hard gel packs. So...here are my lesson's learned. Put your hCG in one of those 3 oz. plastic bottles for the trip and put it in your plastic baggie with toiletries. You have to put those in a bin to be x-rayed separately. Bring some extra baggies and just get ice on the other side of security, and then put it back in your lunch bag. You can get it free where they allow self serve fountain drinks, or ask for a cup. You want to double bag the ice at the very least. Finally, put all scales in your checked luggage. Then you ought to sail like a breeze. Dan